1539THE CHURCH AND SPIRITUAL HEALING.-LADY (RUSSELL) REYNOLDS.

for protection. In summer there are few days when the atemperature is so high as to be uncomfortable. The head i

and eyes are protected from the glare of the sun and fromthe great heat by keeping the head either in the shade of i

some building while the rest of, the body is exposed or by the use of a sunshade. If at any time the high temperature :causes discomfort the patient is carried into the shade. At 1

the beginning of the treatment the time during which the ]

patient is exposed is graduated so as to prevent undue sunburn. This may sometimes be avoided by keeping a sheet over the part. At times the patient should alternately lieupon his back and face so that all parts may be exposed tothe sun. This treatment by recumbency and exposure to thesun is continued throughout the acute stage until there is.evidence of complete cicatrisation. In nearly all cases thisperiod amounts to several months and it may amount to

years. When the patient is allowed to get up a brace is usedwhich is both a crutch to carry the body’s weight and an.extending force to maintain traction upon the affected limb.This brace consists of a padded steel band which passesaround the pelvis just above the great trochanter and a legbar secured to this without a joint. This passes down the

outer side of the leg to the sole of the foot and has

a bolt which passes through a tube inserted in the

heel of the boot. Two perineal straps are attached to thepelvic band. The pelineal strap on the sound side is kepttighter than the other in order to afford counter-extension,while the bolt in the heel produces extension. Dr. M’Kenzie

has treated 166 cases by this method with the followingresults. Eight patients died. Amputation was performedin two cases in which extensive suppuration had occurred.In 56 cases "first-class recovery " took place ; a small pro-portion of the patients had good motion of the hip-joint andpractically no shortening; others had ankylosis in goodposition. In only seven was there ’’ poor recovery" (afemur moveable on the pelvis or long-discharging sinuses).The average time of confinement to the cot was six or sevenmonths.

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THE CHURCH AND SPIRITUAL HEALING.

BTOH on this and on the other side of the Atlantic there isa movement in the Church towards the consideration of

matters connected with healing by other than physicalmeans. On the other side of the Atlantic the Church has

probably been led to initiate this movement on account ofthe extreme prevalence of the belief known as " ChristianScience." In this country, however, a meeting which washeld at Sion College on Nov. 16th owed its inception in mainpart to the discussion of the question at the recent LambethConference. Various clergy and laymen attended the meet-ing, and it is stated that a motion was adopted to thefollowing effect :-That in the opinion of this Conference the time has come to form a

’Central Church Council in the Diocese of London for the considerationof questions connected with healing by spiritual means, and that theBishop of London be respectfully asked to nominate the members of thecouncil.

We are glad that the Church is taking up this ques-tion, for the amount of evil done by unlicensed and quackprofessors of "faith-healing" " is incalculable. When the’Church exhorted its sons in sickness to call for the dulyordained ministers of the Church it was never meantthat material means should be ignored. The true meaningof the sacrament of unction has been gradually lost

sight of until, in one branch of the Church, it has

become, in popular belief at all events, a mere viaticumfor the dying and in no way a means of restoration to

health. On this point we may perhaps refer to theOrder for the Visitation for the Sick as published in

the first Prayer-Book of Edward VI. in which there was aform for anointing the sick person should he so desire it,

and in which prayer was offered that God would vouchsafe torestore to the patient his bodily health and strength and tosend him release of all his pains, troubles, and diseases bothin body and mind. So long as the skill of the physician isnot neglected there is no reason why the offices of the Churchand their effect upon the mind of the patient who believestherein should not be used. Every medical man knowsperfectly well that a patient who desires to, and believes thathe will, get well is far more likely to recover than one who,owing to carelessness or despair, meets death half-way.

LADY (RUSSELL) REYNOLDS.

WE much regret to announce the death of Lady Reynoldswhich occurred at her house, 3, Spanish-place, Manchester-square, on Tuesday last, Nov. 17th, after about a fortnight’sillness. Her life was so full and energetic that the announce-ment will come as a shock to her many friends. LadyReynolds was the daughter of Mr. William Plunkett, a

member of the Fingall family, and was first married to Mr.C. J. Champion-Crespigny, but in 1881, being then a widow,she became the wife of Sir John Russell Reynolds and fromthat time forward was well known to many members of the

medical profession for her keen interest in medical work in allits phases. Rather late in life and when his health was not

particularly good Sir Russell Reynolds became Presidentof the Royal College of Physicians of London, and in1895, two years later, President of the British Medical

Association, holding for a time the two important offices

concurrently. It was only Lady Reynolds’s great energy,tact, and resolute determination to protect her husbandas far as possible from unnecessary encroachment uponhis time, that enabled Sir J. Russell Reynolds to dischargeefficiently the duties of these posts. The experience whichshe then gained of medical politics and the large acquaint-ance which she formed in the medical world made her a real

authority upon such matters. Sir J. Russell Reynolds died in1896 and from that time forward Lady Reynolds’s life waslargely absorbed by her strenuous attempts to do work forthe good of the medical profession and for the public benefitthrough that profession. She became an indefatigableworker upon the lay committees of hospitals, especially ofthose hospitals with which her distinguished husband wasconnected, and in all questions which arose, where her

counsel was required, she gave it in an outspoken manner,with an absolute sense of justice and from the point of viewof one who appreciated the aims and objects of the medicalprofession. She was by birth, training, and instinct a Tory,and was opposed to the movement which is designed toobtain larger political responsibilities for women, but everyact of her public life showed that if those responsibilitieshad devolved upon her she would have known how to acquitherself manfully. As it was she was a living proof of theamount of influence for good which a thoroughly brave andcapable woman may become.

MEDICAL REFERE S AND LIFE ASSURANCE.

AT the opening meeting of the Life Assurance MedicalOfficers’ Association on Nov. 4th, Dr. T. Glover Lyon,the president, occupying the chair, Sir Thomas Oliverread a paper on "Some Medical and Insurance Problemsarising out of Recent Industrial Legislation." He pointedout that while the Workmen’s Compensation Acts of1897 and 1906 had imposed a serious burden upon employers,the effect had been rendered comparatively light through dis-tribution of the risk by insurance, while the beneficial effectof the compensation on injured workmen should undoubtedlypromote social betterment. As regards Germany, however,where such insurance has now been compulsory for 25 years